This invention relates to devices for locking cords against longitudinal movement, as for instance in releasably retaining the drawstring of a garment, bag, or the like in a tightened condition.
In several prior art patents, including for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,132,390; 3,845,575; 3,861,003; and 3,965,544, I have shown cord locking devices of a type in which two cords extend through a passage in a body of the device, and are adapted to be releasably locked against longitudinal movement in a predetermined direction by a movable slide element positioned within the body. The two cords extend along opposite sides of the locking slide, and are wedged tightly against tapering side walls of the body passage by the slide. In the first three of these patents, the slide has generally oppositely directed toothed faces which engage the two cords and which are carried on the slide in essentially fixed relative positions. In the fourth listed prior patent, two oppositely facing toothed faces for engaging the cords respectively are carried on a pair of spring fingers which urge the teeth of those faces laterally against the cords in all positions of the slide, to attain an automatic self locking action.